


In Which There Definitely Used to be a Forest Here

by cavalcadeCrumbling



Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: !! If you like Wreese you're free to use them in your own stuff !!, "I promise I like maxwil I'm just bad at showing it", AUs stumbling into the regular verse gives me life tbh, Gen, I might add more chapters to this I'm bad at oneshots, They're just William 2.0 but also science, This is just the fic equivalent of me saying, fusion au, tagging things is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 22:22:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21084041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cavalcadeCrumbling/pseuds/cavalcadeCrumbling
Summary: Just when they think things can't get weirder, Wilson and Willow run into someone who reminds them of their... friend. Because they are. They're Wilson, too.





	In Which There Definitely Used to be a Forest Here

"So how much farther away are we supposed to be going?"

Wilson presses a hand against the side of his head, trying to ignore the pressure on his head he couldn't understand. "I'm not sure, we should be seeing the treetops by now..."

He'd recruited Willow to get some charcoal with him, since they were stable enough now that having multiple crock pots would be a good idea. Hard to feed their current group of 8 if they've only got two of them. Himself, Willow, Wendy, Webber, Wickerbottom, Winona, WX-78, and, ugh, Maxwell.

He couldn't bring himself to leave the guy out alone, and neither could many of his companions, but boy did he sometimes wish he could. Being around the guy gave him a headache. Not unlike the one he had right now, actually.

"Uh, Wilson? Is this the forest we were supposed to be burning?"

Wilson looks up from his thoughts, only to find himself looking at a nice collection of stumps. Willow looks almost suspicious, but that expression falls once she sees his shock.

"It was," Wilson says, still staring at the stumps. "How-- This was a full forest just yesterday!"

"It must be another one of us, maybe they were just really dedicated to getting wood?" Willow doesn't actually seem too into that theory, but it was better than the alternatives.

"Let's... look for a camp, I guess?"

Wilson goes through his pockets and retrieves a spear, an obvious just in case. Willow does the same. Then, Wilson climbs up onto one of the stumps. Flashing Willow a smile, he hops from that one to another.

"Oh I'll race you!" Willow yells, hopping onto one herself. "First one to find the cause of this wins! Stumps only!"

"You're on!"

They had to get their fun somehow. If it was hopping from stump to stump to distract themselves from the fact that the stumps were there at all, then so be it. They'd all gained a good bit of stamina and muscle from surviving anyway, so it wasn't going to hurt any to do a bit of extra activity.

Turns out, Wilson is the one to find the cause first. In the distance, he sees some trees still standing, and hops over to take a look. As he does, his headache gets worse, and he almost slips off the stump. Or more, he does, only to land on something that felt a whole lot more comfortable than the ground. And a lot more vertical.

It lifts him up and sets him back down on one of the stumps, and he looks up to see a shadow clone, not unlike Maxwell's, but definitely not one of Maxwell's. For one, it seemed to have a lot more autonomy, what he can see of its body language appearing worried, and second... It didn't really look like him.

Actually, it kind of reminded Wilson of himself, and though it definitely wasn't him either, it was still quite unnerving. Both to call out for help and avoid having to look at it, he turns back to yell for Willow.

"I think I've won!"

Then, he crosses his legs on the stump and continues to avoid the shadow's not-gaze. After a minute, he feels the softness press against one of his arms, and looks over to see that it's sat down next to him, and he could almost swear it's humming, but he can't actually focus on the notes to process what ones they are.

On second look, it's actually about Maxwell's height, the towering man he is. Which was... odd, to say the least. It seems to notice him staring at it, and actually gives him a friendly wave. That... wow, yikes.

Wilson has to look away, holding his head at both sides. Must be going insane.

Willow makes it over, still hopping from stump to stump, apparently still thinking she has a chance, though she stops a few away. "One of Maxwell's shadows? Did it go feral or something?"

"Does it look like Maxwell to you?" Wilson asks, gesturing at it. It appears to be laughing? Damn this is creepy.

"Okay, no. It's hair kinda looks like yours, though. By which I mean it's dumb."

"Hey, our hair is great," another voice says suddenly. The best description of it Wilson can think of is if a trumpet and some really deep instrument had some horrible bastard child neither of them wanted. It's not super pleasing.

Both he and Willow look over to the trees, where the voice had come from, to see another person standing there. They were just as uncanny as their shadow minion was, even moreso now that they had visible clothes. Wilson recognized his vest anywhere, but there was a tie tucked into it, and... Maxwell's suit jacket tied around their waist?

Willow recovers from her shock first, doubling over in laughter. "Oh my god, this guy looks like a horrible fusion between you and Maxwell that decided fashion was for chumps! Look at him!"

The new person chuckles, tucking what appears to be a copy of the Codex Umbra - or, as Wilson tended to call it, the spooky book - under their arm and smiling a bit. "That is pretty much exactly what we are."

Willow's laughter abruptly stops, and she looks up at them with shock. Wilson takes this opportunity to speak.

"What? How? Why?"

"I got too close to his experiment," the fusion shrugs. "We think that answers most of those questions?"

"Oh god, they speak like Webber," Willow whispers.

They step forward, offering a hand to shake. "We go by Wreese, by the way."

Wilson can't help but ask. "With a W?"

"Of course. What kind of heathen do you take us for? He'd - you'd - have my head if I hadn't let you continue the coincidence of us all having names which start with W. Though decapitating me for that means decapitating himself as well, but he's got the spirit for it. Er, we do. It's hard to think of ourselves as separate anymore. We really aren't."

Wilson twitches. "I'm really torn between being amazed by this and vomiting because I can apparently stably fuse with Maxwell."

Wreese makes a face. "It's not that bad. We compliment each other fairly well." They smile. "Come here, child."

Both Wilson and Willow look at Wreese oddly as they try to figure out who they're talking to, until the shadow clone stands up and moves to embrace Wreese before falling apart into nightmare fuel. Wreese catches the remains easily, holding them up with a smile.

"Watch," they say, and mumble something under their breath. The fuel seems to envelop their hand, and then, both astoundingly and horrifyingly, stretch the limb out until Wreese can touch Wilson's nose. Wilson looks deeply disturbed, and Willow bursts once again into laughter at his expression.

Wreese practically beams, and the false arm falls away, this time with nothing left over. "Isn't it grand? We've been studying the Codex Umbra to learn the science behind it, and we've been able to preform magic again! Now that the two of you are here, we finally have an audience!"

Willow wipes at her eyes, sighing. "If you're gonna scare Wilson like that all the time, I'm not going to complain! That was amazing!"

Wilson chuckles awkwardly. "Well, there's more than just us, here. We've found 6 others so far. So you'll have plenty an audience to entertain." Instead of bothering him, he adds in his head.

"6? So there's 8 of you? How did so many of you end up on one world?"

"Uh, the portal? Did the two of you never make the portal?"

"The portal! Oh, we tried. Lots of designs, actually. None of them worked. We just appeared in the middle of the wilderness as usual when we arrived here, so we haven't even seen your portal. Now we must, at some point. Best to know what we were missing."

"It won't tell you much. It was destroyed and rebuilt differently in front of our eyes."

"Roses?" Wreese asks.

Wilson blinks, taking a moment to register the question. "Uh, yes. There were roses."

"So she sits on your throne as well... Fate certainly is a tricky thing."

Willow stands up suddenly, taking out her lighter. "This is fun and all, but can we save the questions for later? We still have trees to burn!"

"No different from our Willow, for sure."

Wilson sighs, setting up a torch. "This was supposed to be a charcoal run."

"Our apologies. You will take us back to your base, though, right? Once you're done?"

"We can't just leave you here, can we?"

"Please don't. We don't want to be alone again. Had quite enough of that, already, thank you."


End file.
